Weld

How to spell weld

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce weld

What does weld mean?

1. verbTo join pieces of metal or plastic by heating them until they fuse together.
2. nounA joint formed by fusing metal or plastic together with heat.

Weld in a sentence

• verb

  The mechanic will weld the broken bracket back onto the frame.

• noun

  The inspector found a crack along the weld in the pipe.

• verb

  Workers weld the steel beams together before the crane lifts them.

• noun

  A clean weld leaves a smooth, even seam between the two plates.

Where does weld come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Weld appeared in English in the 1500s as a variant of the older verb 'well', which in Old English (wellan, weallan) meant 'to boil, to rise up, to gush', the same root behind a 'well' of water. Smiths spoke of metal that was heated until it 'welled', that is until it grew hot enough to fuse, and the extra 'd' crept in much as it did in words like 'spend' and 'sound'. By the late sixteenth century the spelling 'weld' had settled as a separate word meaning to unite pieces of metal by heat and pressure. The figurative sense, to bind people or ideas firmly together, followed soon after. The surprising link is that the same boiling, swelling idea sits behind both the cool word 'well' and the fiery craft of welding.

How the word is built

• weld (likely an altered form of well, meaning to boil or rise up, applied to heated metal)